Training Room

Alex was captivated by her once again. His lover was gorgeous, cute, pretty, etc. He couldn't describe them all.

"Alicia," he called her name gently.

"Mmm?" Alicia's face was still full of smiles.

"Are you going to the dungeon with Firia?" Alex said worriedly.

Alicia's face that was full of smiles turned to a solemn and determined face right away. "Yes!"

"...." Alex looked at her for a moment, "I won't stop you."

"Alex?" She was surprised by Alex's response, she feared Alex would stop her from doing this.

"I won't say anything about this. I am respecting you, even if you want to destroy another kingdom I won't go against your words and back you up."

"No no no, I don't want to destroy another kingdom," Alicia hurriedly said.

Alex gently smiled, "I know, I just want to say it like that. Don't worry about what I will think, I will always support your decision. This is what I learned from my hometown, a relationship could be formed between two people who respect, trust, love, and believe in each other. So I'm not going to say anything."

Alicia was surprised and tears started to form in her eyes. Alex learned about this when Sandra betrayed him. He understood what it meant to build a relationship between two people, not only one.

"I'm going to wait for you here, patiently waiting for your comeback. When you come back, I will gladly say 'Welcome Back' to you," Alex slowly said.

Alicia's tears started streaming down, but they were not sad tears but rather truly happy tears. In this day, a woman or a wife in a noble's house was often suppressed by their man or husband. They needed to follow their destiny as a woman because, in this world,  a woman and a man were not equal.

But Alex was different, he trusted her, he let her do what she wanted, he respected her as an equal partner. Alex really loved her.

"I understand, Alex."

...

In the next morning, Alex and the grand duke accompanied Alicia and Mia. Alex also saw Firia come in.

"Be careful!" Alex said.

"Yes," Firia smiled.

Alex then turned to Alicia but he didn't say anything, he just smiled at her.

Alicia who understood the meaning behind his smile just nodded slightly.

They soon set off, Alex and the grand duke were watching the carriage until it was gone and went back inside the house.

...

Alex rested for a whole week and he tried to summarize all of his experiences. He had a few fire magic which were Flame Sword Wave, Fire Arrow, Flame Armor, Boost Step, and Fire Claw. He only focused on learning about the spear and sword. He had basic art for each of them and Sanguin Sword Art for sword and Spear Throwing Art for his spear.

He could condense sword intent for his sword but couldn't condense any spear intent for his spear. At first, he thought of abandoning his spear and focused on his sword but he planned to wait and see first.

After a week, his injuries were healed and he continued training with his Sanguin Sword Art. He wanted to do the fifth slash successfully. During the two weeks, he never succeeded in doing the fifth slash, but he felt closer to passing that stage.

"Alex!" Someone suddenly called him.

Alex turned to look at the source of the voice, "Uncle."

These past few weeks, Alex got used to calling grand duke 'Uncle'.

The duke nodded, "I got some news for you."

"What is it?" Alex asked.

"It seems that the hero's group will come to the academy as a student. They want to look at our academy."

Alex frowned at this news.

"They will come after the first-grade student's holiday so they should arrive by next month," the duke said.

Alex pondered for a moment. Looking at Alex, the duke also said, "Don't worry about it, Actually, the one who informed me was my brother. They have a hero but we have you and we also didn't fear them. If they want war we can let them see why our Acacia kingdom was the strongest between the three kingdoms."

Alex was moved and he put a smile on his face, "Thank you, Uncle."

"Well they say the hero and his group already reached rank 3 within a year and the hero himself can fight with rank 4. I think he might want to show off his power in front of us. But we also have you and you are the same age as him. I'm sure the hero is nothing compared to you."

Grand duke smiled and waved his hand as he left.

Alex looked at the sky, "John and the others huh... they are coming? I will get my revenge this time. I'm not the same as the weak-looking boy back then."

Alex now was considering taking his Qi Gathering Pill which he saved back then to increase his power.

He came back to his room and found ten Qi Gathering Pills in front of him.

Alex took one of the pills in front of him. The pill burst and melted in his mouth. He felt a surging of Mana coming inside his body. He immediately sat on lotus pose and started cultivating.

He was immersed in this feeling, unwittingly 2 hours had passed. He opened his eyes, "With these pills, I can break through to the next level."

He picked up the second pill and continued his cultivation.

The night passed by, Alex already finished 5 pills tonight. He wanted to finish the other five but he needed to go out of his room.

Alex could break through tonight with these pills. During the day, Alex practiced his Sanguin Sword Art. Alex kept pondering what's wrong with his moves. There was always something off in his fifth slash but he didn't know what it was.

"I thought I already focused on my speed for the slash... that should be the problem, right?"

"Alex."

Alex turned to look at the voice, "Uncle."

"How is your progress?"

Alex shook his head, "I failed, I haven't succeeded in doing the fifth slash."

"Well… just keep practicing, you will eventually succeed."

Alex nodded, "Uncle, how do you use your wind strike?"

Alex asked about this because the Sword Wave always became the wind whenever Alex failed in his fifth slash.

"Hmm... when I use my wind strike, I use my Mana just like your… what is it called? Flame Sword wave..."

"Mana huh..." Alex sighed, but suddenly his eyes brightened. "Mana! That's right!"

Alex readied his stance once again.

"First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth...."

Alex used all his slash possible, but this time with more care. He observed the Mana fluctuation in each slash.

This time he noticed that when he used the fourth slash the Mana seemed to be disrupted. His eyes brightened and he figured it out. This was the reason he couldn't do the fifth slash. The problem wasn't in the fifth slash but the fourth slash.

"In the first, second, and third slash, the Mana seems to be stable, but when I do the fourth, the Mana becomes unstable which makes the fifth slash fail," Alex's eyes widened after figuring it out.

Alex did the movement again, "First, second, third slash!" 

This time, when he did the fourth, he imbued his Mana, "Fourth Slash!"

He stopped at the fourth. After he did the fourth slash, a crescent Sword Wave flew. This time, the Sword Wave felt more stable than before. Alex was happy with this development.

"The energy becomes more stable now," grand duke said.

Alex nodded, he wanted to do another one but this time to the fifth slash.

"First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Slash!"

A crescent Sword Wave was formed. The grand duke was surprised by its power. The power was equal to that of a rank 5. But then, his face suddenly darkened because Alex's Sword Wave destroyed the house's wall.

'Boom!'

The Sword Wave hit the stone fence and destroyed it. Luckily, the Sword Wave exploded, if not, it might hurt someone on its way.

"I...I..." Alex's face became pale. He looked at the duke apologetically.

The duke sighed, "Fortunately the Sword Wave exploded. If it continues, it might kill someone on its way."

Alex's face became even paler, "I will pay for the wall, Uncle."

The duke shook his head, "Don't worry about the wall. Look, you have succeeded in the fifth slash. You already practiced this move again and again for the past few weeks."

Alex wanted to leap with joy for his success this time, but he didn't seem to have any energy to do it.

"Dear, what happens?" The madam came to the garden because of this incident.

"Nothing, Alex only practices his Sword Art and that happened," the grand duke explained while pointing to the wall.

"Oh... don't worry about it," madam assured him.

"Seeing the Sword Art do this much damage, why don't you practice in the basement?" Grand duke said.

"Basement?" Alex was confused by this offer.

The duke nodded, "We have a practice ground in the basement of our mansion. It is used to practice some skills or arts that can cause too much damage so it won't be dangerous. Look at that chimney on the ground there." The duke pointed out a chimney that stuck on the ground. The chimney was not a regular one because it was planted on the ground.

Alex looked at the big hole on the stone, he was speechless, "That's not a well?" He always thought that the hole was a well. That was because he never knew there was a basement in that mansion

"..." This time grand duke and madam were speechless.

"It's not, it was a chimney used to ventilate the training ground in the basement."

The atmosphere became awkward.

"Why don't we go there? I will show you around," the grand duke said.

Alex nodded, if he wanted to practice this Sword Art, he might break another wall again.

After saying goodbye to the madam, the duke led Alex to the basement. The door was in the Library and they got in after putting some weird mechanism to open the door.

They got down the stairs, it seemed that the basement was around ten to fifteen meters below the ground. When they reached the place, Alex was astonished. The room was made of compact stone. Even with some cuts, explosions, or marks on the it, the wall seemed sturdy.

Alex felt that even if he slashed the wall, it would keep standing.

"This wall has sturdier material than our city wall. It can withstand a rank 7 attack. We want to use this stone to build the city wall but there are several problems like wall supply, money, and many others," the grand duke sighed.

Alex nodded, it might have cost a lot to build this place, he said to himself.